THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUEIIT KHARAGPURFEBRUARY 27, 2012www.scholarsavenue.org

Interview with Mrigya

Page 4

Exclusive!

Shah-e-Milan!Crisp, curious and creative. This man has the mettle to

disappear and then reappear. He does it every time he sets out to play a role that is not Naseeruddin Shah. We have

all been witnesses to his versatility and brilliance at some point in time or the other. He's won the hearts of fans of

all ages with his moving performances in movies like 'Masoom', 'Iqbal' and 'A Wednesday', to name a few.

TSA had the opportunity to catch up with the actor during his recent visit to our campus, to learn about his take on

life, art and theatre. Here are a few excerpts from the interview. We hope you enjoy reading this just as much as

we did taking it!

For the full interview, do visit our website: www.scholarsavenue.org

RTI Activism in Kgp - Page 2

Fest Analysis - Pages 5,8

Ajay Shah writes about the Indian economy - Page 3

Young India Fellowship - Page 7

Phot

o: Sa

swat

Kum

ar Sa

hu

P O L I T I C A L A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² MONDAY , FEBRUARY 27TH , 20122

Ritesh Singh

Mr. Chinna Bodapalli

GU E S T A V E N U ETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² MONDAY , FEBRUARY 27TH , 2012 3

FEATURES AVENUE4

To read these articles online and to

give your feedback on them, please

v i s i t o u r w e b s i t e a t

www.scholarsavenue.org. The

website provides the latest campus

news through our coverage of events

as they happen.

TEAM SCHOLSAVETEAM SCHOLSAVE

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² MONDAY , FEBRUARY 27TH , 2012

CAMPUS AVENUETHE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² MONDAY , FEBRUARY 27TH , 2012 5

The Winners

M I S C E L L A N E O U S A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² MONDAY , FEBRUARY 27TH , 20126

Did you know? ‘Gawdappa’ was an official entry for inclusion into the Oxford dictionary, but was beaten out by WAG.

THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² MONDAY , FEBRUARY 27TH , 2012 BHAAT AVENUE 7

his year’s Kshitij was claimed to be the "grandest ever in terms T

of participation, prize money and organisation" by the General Secretaries, Technology, and indeed it did not disappoint.

2012 saw new frontiers breached at Robotix. With every problem statement being one-of-a-kind, it was a treat for the organising team, participants and the onlookers. Fire-fighting was introduced as a manual robotics event with actual fires in the arena being doused by bots. Innovative ideas were seen coming to l i fe in "Vertigo" where participants were required to build a

robot that could traverse zip-lines. Ÿ The event turned out to be a crowd

puller and soon became a centre of attraction. Robotix also witnessed a Ÿ Total prize money given out was significant increase in footfall in 47 lakhs INR.autonomous events, with more than 100 teamsŸ 50,000 people registered on the turning up for “Stalker" where two website.bots simultaneously traversed the same path on multiple levels. Ÿ 24,000 people turned up for the "Stasis", a semi-autonomous event fest.arena featured bots carrying water

Ÿ Registration fees increased to Rs.800, apparently a planned venture to reduce population; possibly the reason behind a 30% decrease in footfall.

Ÿ The fest also saw six new events being introduced, namely "Verdict", "Disha", "Prayas", "Aquarangers", "Ecovision" and "Mechatron".

across atrocious terrain. Teams from W i n n i n g t e a m s o f b o t h kgp have traditionally been "Mechatron" and "Embetronix" unbeatable at Image Processing and were from kgp while "Aquarangers" Coding, and this year was no was an instant hit receiving different. The Image Processing participation from about 100 teams.event, "Nuke-Clear", which introduced the use of an overhead camera feed to navigate the arena, was successfully overcome by a team of Freshmen from IIT Kharagpur who won the event with flying colours. The coding event "Echelon" was also triumphed by KGPians. Playing host to more than 460 teams, Robotix put up a strong show.

Robotix

FE S T A V E N U E THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE ² MONDAY , FEBRUARY 27TH , 2012

Megashows

Guest Lectures

All those who presumed that Kshitij would not be able to stand up to the glamour of Spring Fest were forced to swallow their words thanks to the outstanding megashows of Kshitij 2012 - "Pyromania" and "3D Building Projections", and a thrilling performance by "The Mentalizer".

3D Building Projections showcased a stunning technology that produces 3D effect without the need for glasses. The show, held at the Technology Guest House, started off with loud roars from the KGP junta. What followed was a shower of stupefying visual treat and sensational special effects projected on the wall of the guest house. There was an instant when the whole building appeared to collapse which left the audience gasping in awe. There were signs of dismay in people when many of them were repeated and the show was felt to be too short. But the general opinion at the end was that it was remarkable - a perfect beginning to Kshitij 2012.

Start off with an assortment of juggling acts, throw in some loud music, stir it in a little fire and you’ve got yourself Pyromania. Post Naseeruddin Shah’s lecture, a jam-packed TOAT was treated to a spectacle as a troupe of performers from the other side of the globe took to the stage and literally set it on fire. When the performers finally bowed out, they were greeted by a

deafening roar from the crowd. And yet, there was more to follow. Adults and children were left gazing skywards as an unforgettable array of fireworks enlivened the night.

To culminate the fest, The Men t a l i z e r Ehud Segev enthralled the audience with his performance. Who needs Alakazam to bend spoons when

a mentalist can twist them? If a guy can hoodwink four "IITians" and a Mathematics professor, he has got to be good.

With a Nobel laureate in economics, an adventure journalist, an astronaut, a film personality, a media person, scientists and inventors, this year saw a very diverse set of individuals visiting Kharagpur. Most of the lectures began on time without any of the usual delays, and the organisation was of a professional level.The guest lecturers in general took a smart choice of topics to speak on, choosing interesting yet simple to understand concepts, considering the fact that they would be presenting them before a largely unfamiliar audience. The student response, though mostly enthusiastic, could have been much better, especially in the question-answer sessions where most of the questions asked were either highly trivial or off-topic. A little background study on the students' parts would have enhanced the interaction.

A Tribute To Technology8

Under The Scanner Shashi Prakash

TSA- How is it different from any tech fest like Kshitij?

TSA- So how do you plan to implement your proposal next semester, considering the fact that you won't be the G.Sec incharge? The next G.Sec would have his own proposals and his own set of priorities.

TSA- So you had no idea how feasible or not feasible the idea is?

Proposal (Inter IIT Tech Meet):

Shashi- Kshitij is open for everyone; I wanted twhere

students from all IITs could come once every year and take part in events,However, having an Inter IIT Tech Meet was a far-fetched dream, but we took the first step towards it.

Shashi - The only thing I can do is talk with him and after my term gets over, I will talk with the president of the Gymkhana. If I plan everything then implementing it won't be very difficult.

Shashi- On my part, I had done the feasibility analysis. I knew the constraints that I would face. However, it was not given the green light this year.

he Meet on the same lines as the Inter IIT Sports meet,

Proposal(Electing Department

SS - This is slightly unfeasible. It is not possible to have Dept. Representatives from all the Departments.

SS - It always depends on the events and their nature. There might be events which do not require help from some of the departments.

SS - It's not always possible to involve all the departments. Compared to last year's IDP, we faced many problems this time. This year's problem statement was more specific to Geology, and we really had to fight for submissions, unlike last year wherein the problem statement was based on Solar Energy, making the event more open for participation.

Sayantan Sarkar

TSA - Don't you think there is a difference between soliciting individuals for certain events and electing Department Representatives?

TSA - How did you go about publicizing this? It seems that all the representatives are confined to your batch only.

TSA - So your proposal wasn't a conscious effort to involve all the departments?

reps.)

To read the full interview, please visit our website